Division of Business and Finance

Payroll Services - Frequently Asked Questions

Pay days are on a semi-monthly basis on the 15th and the last day of each month. If these dates fall on a holiday or a weekend, payments will be disbursed on the last workday before the holiday or weekend with the exception of Winter Break during which salary payments will maintain the standard payment schedule. Pay periods covered vary according to whether you are an hourly employee, a faculty, executive or administrative staff employee, or a student.

Eckerd College has a "paperless pay" payroll system. All wages earned are either paid with a direct deposit into your bank account or with a Pay Card from Wachovia Bank. A Payroll Deposit Form with an original signature is required. Direct deposit can be set up for one or two bank accounts. The form is also available in the Human Resources office.

Tax withholding is done in accordance with your W-4 form. You will find out what your current W-4 status is by following the instructions "How to Review Your W-4 Status and Address". Complete a new W-4 form if you would like to make a change to your tax withholdings.

The College grants paid holidays, established annually by the President, to all regular full-time employees. A calendar is published annually listing the holidays. Here is a link to the the current Holiday Calendar. Teaching faculty personnel observe the published academic class calendar.

All payments to an individual for services rendered to the College must be paid through payroll unless the individual qualifies as an independent contractors. A contractor will need to invoice the College for their services. Please contact the Accounts Payable in the Business Office at x7756 for an explanation of the qualifications of an independent contractor. Payments made to an independent contractor are reported to the IRS on a 1099 form.

Honoraria may be used to pay a person who gives a one time talk or performance for a class at the College. For payments, you must submit a Special Pay Form, also known as the "Goldenrod" form. These forms are used for grants, summer school, special or other salary payment over regular pay. Please review the Special Pay Instructions or contact the Payroll Specialist in the Business Office.

All stipends for students working on research need to be paid through student payroll in Career Services.

To process payments for additional taxable income for employees (including students) already set up in payroll through the payroll process, please contact the Payroll Specialist in the Business Office. If the individual has not been set up as an employee their payments can be processed through Accounts Payable as long as they qualify as an independent contractor. This process is set up to avoid an individual from receiving both the W-2 and 1099 form at year end. The IRS monitors this and when an individual gets both forms, a "red flag" goes up at IRS that the company may be using the individual as both an independent contractor and as an employee, which is not sanctioned by IRS. Although, some may believe an honorarium has nothing to do with employment, it is taxable income and subject to IRS withholdings.Those students who are already set up as employees must have their honorarium processed through payroll. Career Services can first set up the award and then a payroll check is generated by the Payroll Specialist. Please be aware, that depending on the size of the award, some taxes may be withheld. If the award must be a certain amount, please indicate on the paperwork the "net" amount and that it is a one time payment, the gross amount of the check will then be adjusted accordingly to cover the required amount of withholding taxes.

This list of questions is not all inclusive. If you have any questions about the information on this web page, please contact thePayroll Specialist

About the Business Office

The Division of Business and Finance is multifaceted and is comprised of functional areas consisting of Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Student Accounts, Bursar, Payroll Services, Budgets, Grants, Facilities, and Risk Management.